FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
Kendra Lewis, Sacramento Housing Alliance
Christina Gotuaco, California Housing Partnership
May 11, 2021 (Sacramento, CA) – As the Aggie Square lawsuit settles and with the City of Sacramento entering into a Community Benefits Agreement calling for an investment into an affordable housing trust fund, a new affordable housing needs report from the California Housing Partnership showcases the urgency of the region’s housing struggles. Families are being displaced due to rising costs of rents as the local population has increased. Facing this squeeze, local jurisdictions must aggressively fund affordable housing, in addition to the need for statewide and federal investments.
Key Findings in the 2021 Affordable Housing Need Report:
- 58,383 Sacramento County households who are paid a low income do not have access to an affordable home.
- Renters in Sacramento County need to earn $26.77 per hour — 1.9 times the state minimum wage — to afford the average monthly asking rent of $1,392.
“With the release of the Partnership’s 2021 Affordable Housing Need Report, SHA supports the statewide recommendations and has provided local recommendations for our region’s long-term and short-term housing needs. We are in a serious housing crisis and can only support policies using a racial equity lens to affirmatively further fair housing and to get people off the street, keep people in their homes and continue building new affordable rental homes,” said Kendra Lewis, Executive Director of the Sacramento Housing Alliance.
“As state leaders prepare to finalize the coming budget, we urge them to also set clear long-term goals so that the uses of this year’s surplus are framed as down-payments on the sustained investments at scale that our region and state need. California’s Roadmap Home 2030 offers four clear goals with a long-term path to end homelessness, close the affordable housing gap, protect low-income renters, and advance racial equity,” said Matt Schwartz, President and CEO of the California Housing Partnership.
Key local recommendations include:
- All local policies should be created and analyzed using a racial equity lens to affirmatively further fair housing. In addition, to address continuing impacts of the pandemic, policies should be adopted to get people off the street, keep people in their homes and continue building new affordable rental homes.
- Adopt or increase local revenue sources for affordable home development.
- Require 10 percent of all new affordable rental communities be set aside for people experiencing homelessness.
- Adopt policies to prevent displacement including strategies to protect senior and low-income homeowners, such as targeting home repair programs, no-net-loss policies for existing affordable housing, and condo conversion ordinances.
View the Sacramento County Report + Local recommendations.
Join us on Wednesday, May 12th, at 12:00 pm for a Facebook Live event launching the 2021 Sacramento County Housing Need Report: https://www.facebook.com/sachousingalliance.
Additionally, reports are newly published for the following counties:
- El Dorado County Report | Local recommendations
- Placer County Report | Local recommendations
- Yolo County Report | Local recommendations
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About the Sacramento Housing Alliance: For over 30 years, The Sacramento Housing Alliance has advocated for safe, stable, accessible, and affordable homes in the Sacramento region. SHA builds healthy communities through education, leadership, and policy change. | sachousingalliance.org
About the California Housing Partnership: The California Housing Partnership creates and preserves affordable and sustainable homes for Californians with low incomes by providing expert financial and policy solutions to nonprofit and public partners. Since 1988, the Partnership’s on-the-ground technical assistance, applied research, and legislative leadership has leveraged $25 billion in private and public financing to preserve and create more than 75,000 affordable homes. In addition, the Partnership provides statewide data tools for housing research and outcomes tracking. | chpc.net